Day 26: Cabbages in the Sky

March 5, 2006

This morning we have a very exciting thing to do: hike to the peak of El
Pital, the highest peak of El Salvador (2730m/ 8957 feet)! OK, must be honest:
the summit is so well accessible by car that all you have to hike is the remaining
mile or so (assuming you are driving 4WD, otherwise be ready for a longer
hike - the road is narrow and very bad, and keeps deteriorating with every
meter). Strangely enough, the summit is private property - USD 2 per person
to get in. Another thing that looked quite bizarre was the vast cabbage fields
all over the slopes of El Pital. The higher up, the more cabbages One
could hardly think of a more inconvenient location for agricultural activities
:)

Although in La Palma it was a lovely sunny morning (El Pital is just several
miles from La Palma), the higher we climbed, the worse the visibility became.
By the time we reached the summit, we could not see much more than a thick
layer of clouds all around us. To be completely honest, since there were no
signs or indicators of any kind along the road, we could not even guarantee
that the point we reached was the highest peak :) However, the trail ended,
and all we could do was assume that the end of the road represented the summit
:))

Not too impressed with the view (more exactly, the absence of it) from the
highest peak of El Salvador we decided to look for Piedra Rajada, another
"point of interest" just half hour walk from the summit. Piedra
Rajada should be an impressive cloven rock accessed by an old nerve-wracking
log bridge over an abyss. Before we even got halfway to the rock, the real
fun finally began! :) All of the sudden, we noticed a strange half-naked creature
coming out of the woods: hirsute, no shirt, wrinkled pants at half-mast, a
cell phone in one hand, a walky-talky in the other, another three behind the
belt, and a huge-ass gun across the shoulder In addition to the not
very reassuring appearance, the creature came up close to us and asked an
even less comforting question: "Have you seen any more people around
here?" We silently started saying our last prayers as we replied: "Oh
yes! There is a big group of hikers following us!" (Who could
deny that the "always tell the truth" rule - which in this case
would mean answering "No, not a single soul, and actually we are kind
of lost here" - may sometimes have justifiable exceptions?.. :)) The
creature kept thinking for a minute or two (felt like 2 hours to us!). At
times he seemed to have completely forgotten about us Finally, to eliminate
the awkward silence, we decided to remind about ourselves by resuming the
conversation: "Would you happen to know where is the trail to Piedra
Rajada?". "There", said the creature and pointed to an obscure
direction, then slowly turned around and walked back into the woods, right
towards Piedra Rajada :) Needless to say that we quickly decided the cloven
rock was in fact not that very interesting and marched away to the opposite
direction :)) Yet, the question remained: who the heck was that guy?? A guerrilla?
A hunter? A robber? Just another lost tourist? Or maybe a cabbage guard who
got lost among the endless cabbage fields? It's a pity we didn't ask
him :)

Overwhelmed by the morning adventure, we manage to forget that today is Sunday
and head straight toward the El Salvador - Honduras border. The customs territory
looks suspiciously quiet Not a single border guide comes running towards
our car, which is completely odd! We finally manage to get a hold of an immigration
officer in El Salvador who advises that first we went and checked with Honduras,
if they can let us in on Sunday. Leaving El Salvador would be no problem,
however, if we got denied entrance to Honduras because their bank is closed
(see Formalities and Practicalities below for more info), we would be stuck
in the customs area until Monday :)

On the Honduras side there seems to be no people at all At last we
get noticed by a young, good-looking fellow who introduces himself as a customs
officer and offers us assistance with whatever we might need. USD50 is the
price. This is where the weird part starts We tell him that we think
this price is way too high. He answers that this is exactly the same fee people
pay every day, and invites us into the immigration office so he could prove
it to us. To our greatest surprise, this guy seems to have the keys from every
lock in the building: all the offices, file cabinets, drawers, etc In
addition to being shown the proof - a big book full of receipt copies, we
get a private tour of "Aduanas de Honduras" :)

When the car importation docs are finally all set, our new friend insists
on going back to El Salvador with us so he could help us finalize the emigration
stuff. His behavior in the Salvadorian customs office is no less impressive:
he can open all doors, use other people's file cabinets and desks, make photocopies,
joke with everybody, etc, etc Some universal trans-country customs official!
:)

During the entire process, which took no less than two hours, Martin (that's
his name) kept us entertained by continuously proposing to Dovi and offering
to find a pretty Honduran bride to Zee :) At last we managed to get away by
promising to post his e-mail address on our web site and this way help him
find a Lithuanian bride (no joking!! :)) A promise is a promise, therefore:
Dear Lithuanian girls! A friendly, helpful, very good-looking 26-year old
fellow from Honduras is looking for a bride of Lithuanian origin. Will go
to live to Lithuania or wherever else you want to take him. It would be nice
if you could speak at least some Spanish because Martin does not speak any
other language :) Please write to Martin Pena Gutierrez, pegumart@gmail.com

Late in the afternoon we were at last in Honduras (thank you for finally
letting us go, Martin!), and the first stop was Gracias a Dios (this is the
name of the town, not our attitude; yet, coincidentally, it also represents
the latter :)). It was getting dark, and the small sleepy town looked like
just the right place for a good night sleep.

El Salvador - Honduras Border Formalities and Practicalities: Most
importantly, avoid crossing borders on weekends, especially when traveling
with your own vehicle. The immigration offices are usually open 7 days a week,
so if you are going by bus or crossing on foot, you should not experience
any problems either day. However, if you want to bring your vehicle into another
country, you will also need to go through customs (aduanas), and all the associated
payments will have to be made to the bank, which is closed on Sundays. It
is very likely that the same rule applies to all the borders, not just El
Salvador-Honduras.

Expenses: USD 3 per person for Hunduras tourist card and USD 50 for
the car (This might be the "weekend special" though, regular fee
may be lower).

Possibilities: Be prepared to leave the customs engaged or maybe even
married :)

Cick on the pictures to enlarge

Cabbages in the sky

Kopustai danguje

On the way to El Pital, while the clouds were still
above us.

Pakeliui i virsune - kol debesys dar virs musu, ir
sis tas matosi.

Daily rice and beans, and... how about some cabbages
for a change? :)

Is situ turetu gautis nebloga kopustiene :)

At last, the National Park lands started being useful!

Zalia, zalia, kur dairais.... kopustiene vakarais...

Hope it's worth it. One could hardly think of a more
inconvenient location for harvesting.